When it comes to online shopping, according to Retail Dive, consumers want the buying experience to be easy. The question for any small business is whether they have or don’t have online sales, do your customers, clients or patients find your business easy, seamless and fast?
For example, most consumers — myself included — truly dislike automated phone systems. These systems are not easy for customers, but easy for the businesses.
There is a commercial currently running on television about someone calling into a security business and listens to the usual music and verbiage. Then after finally being connected to a real live person, told “wrong department.”
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Being put on hold, having to press several different buttons and then being put on hold again, discourages potential customers. The same is true by not answering the phone to not returning phone calls.
Recently I overhead a conversation at a local coffee shop about how someone called a small business owner and was told “I’ll get back to you after my workout.” I wonder if the small business owner ever called the person back? Can you imagine telling a customer “I’ll call you back after my workout?”
How about the simple process of establishing credit? Years ago a salesperson related to me how she had just earned the first five-figure order for an established company and the credit department would not even accept the order until all credit information was processed. The credit department said this would take two to three days. Now this was a company this particular small business was actively farming for several years and pushing the salesperson to get an order.
Then many of us have appointments with medical professionals. We, as patients, wait 30 minutes plus. Of course, most people understand if there is any emergency, yet consistently having to wait reflects a practice that makes doing business difficult. Time is money especially if the patients are small business owners to sales professionals who are not making money sitting 30-plus minutes.
Every process, every interaction should be simple and as easy as possible for both the customer and the salesperson. Making the buying or selling experience difficult to convoluted is probably one reason why some small businesses cannot achieve their monthly, quarterly or annual sales goals.
The first question any small business owner should ask is, “How easy is it to buy from my small business?” After answering that question the next question might be “Is it easier to buy from my competition?” Then the first question should be reframed to “How easy is it for my salespeople to sell my solutions (products or services)?” Again reframing the second question might be, “Is it easier for my competitors to sell their products or services?”
By asking these four questions, barriers might be discovered keeping new customers from patronizing your small business as well as salespeople not being able to sell your solutions. For the most small businesses,, the buying and selling process is simple. The goal for small business owners and sales professionals is to keep it simple, make it easy to do business with and watch your customer loyalty to sales quickly grow.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.